


Halfway There

by Storybook_Wolf



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Pining, Post-Season/Series 03, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27338569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storybook_Wolf/pseuds/Storybook_Wolf
Summary: Nancy and Jonathan meet up at a motel in a town halfway between Hawkins and the Byers' new town in order to get a few precious hours together.My contribution for Jancy week 2020 day 2. There were two possible themes: Dor (the heartbreak and sense of longing you feel because you’re separated from your love) and Reunion (an instance of two or more people coming together again after a period of separation). I started writing this as a reunion story, but a lot of dor crept in there. Reunions can be very bittersweet when you know they are only temporary!
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler
Kudos: 7





	Halfway There

Nancy really wished she’d had a second coffee at that diner.

Yes, the first one had been disgusting – it tasted burnt, left a gritty residue coating her teeth and tongue, and was served in a chipped, ancient mug. But coffee meant caffeine, which meant energy. And she was feeling a severe lack of energy now, two hours after leaving that roadside diner and following the highway through indistinguishable, nondescript towns and fields. Her eyeballs were starting to hurt.

Jonathan was right about this being the maximum any sane person would want to drive in a day. When he’d told her how far away he was moving, she’d been full of confidence that she could tackle any distance if he was at the other end of it. But the reality of hours and hours behind the wheel was proving her wrong. Her leg kept cramping, the tape deck had eaten the roadtrip mixtape Jonathan had sent her, and she desperately needed to pee (another coffee would only have made that worse, so maybe it was just as well she’d stopped at one).

But she was nearly there. She only had to keep it together for another twenty minutes or so and it would all be worth it. She’d arrive in Greenville, a town that was just as nondescript as all the ones she’d driven through en route, but which had one very important thing going for it: it was roughly halfway between Hawkins and the town where Jonathan now lived.

The Byers had stopped at a motel there when they left Hawkins back in October. Joyce had taken a book of matches from the front desk, and seeing it sitting by an ashtray in their new kitchen sparked a plan in Jonathan’s mind. They were too far apart for study sessions, or going to each other’s proms, or any normal teenage date. But what if they could each get away from their families and schools and jobs for one weekend? A motel halfway between two small towns could be their little oasis. So Nancy had hit the road early on a Saturday morning, her mother pressing Tupperware full of chocolate chip cookies into her hands (Jonathan’s favourites) and her father sternly warning her about road safety.

When you factored in all the time spent driving there today, and the time it would take to drive home tomorrow, they wouldn’t actually have that long together. It was going to be worth it though, to see him. She _needed_ to be with him, a longing so intense that it still shocked her, even though she’d been living with it for months. It was a need to have sex with him, obviously (they definitely weren’t getting a double room this time), but it wasn’t only that. More than anything, she just needed to be near him. She felt safe and comfortable with him in ways that were impossible when they were apart.

There was so much that she wanted to talk to him about, but also a few topics that she knew they would just skirt around. The biggest one, of course, was that graduation was around the corner, and they hadn’t decided what came next. That Nancy was desperate to get away to college, to start a new life completely free of interdimensional monster and government conspiracies and small-town small-mindedness. That Jonathan wanted all that too but couldn’t afford it. Couldn’t leave his family, who were dependent on him. (Didn’t want to leave his family, who he was dependent on. Neither of them had ever said that part out loud.)

Nancy didn’t want any of that to impinge on these few hours that they were going to have together. So she would bite her tongue, choose different topics, or just make sure that their lips were otherwise occupied. Reality could wait for a little bit longer.

A faded billboard announced _Rest Easy Motel next left – colour tv, ice, kitchenette_. She glanced at her eyes in the visor mirror, relieved to see that her eye makeup had largely survived the journey. Not that Jonathan would care; she could have rolled straight out of bed into the car and he’d still be happy to see her.

The car park was fuller than she’d expected, but she managed to manoeuvre her mom’s station wagon into a space. She got out of the car, and was still scanning the lot for a rusted LTD when she heard his voice. ‘Nancy!’

She turned to see Jonathan emerging from reception, room key in one hand. Her heart quickened as he jogged towards her. His hair was longer, he was wearing a jacket she didn’t recognise, and he was beaming at her, looking more relaxed and happy than she’d ever see him before.

Meeting him halfway across the car park, she launched herself at him, and he kissed her with an intensity that rivalled that night at Murray’s. When they stopped to catch their breath, he stroked her face gently and gave that familiar half-smile that took her breath away.

‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I’ve missed you.’

***

Less than twenty-four hours later, Nancy was back behind the wheel of her mom’s Mercury and on her way back to Hawkins.

Their one night together had been perfect. It was exactly what she needed. She’d spent the night in Jonathan’s arms, she’d vented to him about everything from the annoying jocks in her homeroom to how much her mom was drinking, and he’d made her laugh and believe that everything would be okay.

So why was there an ache in her chest that grew more intense with each mile that ticked over on the odometer? It was as though this lightning-fast reunion with Jonathan had just reminded her how much she missed him. She’d been in a desert for months, parched and dehydrated. Now she’d had a few drops of water – and instead of quenching her thirst, they’d made her whole body cry out for more.

They were both busy (him especially), so it would be a while before they could do this again. She knew they’d get through it, like they had so far. But god, she wished they didn’t have to.

**Author's Note:**

> Greenville is one of the most common town names in the US. I haven’t attempted to guess where the Byers now live – all I know is it’s a long way away!


End file.
